Lila approached the village council several times with little luck until one day, Mr. Mohan, a civil servant from Tamil Nadu state, was deputed to Lila’s district. Previously, Mr. Mohan had undertaken several successful poverty reduction projects, including the creation of women’s self-help groups, provisions for micro credit, and implementation of the free midday meal scheme for students in government primary schools. Mr. Mohan transferred these experiences to Charampa. Additionally, he enlisted various non-governmental organizations to train the villagers in watershed management to ensure a sufficient water supply during the dry season and, under his supervision, the fair-price shops improved the villagers’ access to grain storage and food distribution services. Today, Lila does not suffer from a lack of rain; the stored water is sufficient for dry spells. Her family does not go to bed hungry, and all of her children go to school.

From the article it seems students in UNESCO associated schools are getting a good well-rounded education that includes social concern.

I tried to find if there are such schools in Odisha. I could locate a 2004 list. There are no schools from Odisha in it. It does list RIE Bhubaneswar and Radhanath Training College, Cutack. I hope some of the schools in Odisha will try to get into this list. The web page of the UNESCO associated school project network, referred to as ASPNet, is http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/networks/global-networks/aspnet/.

Three years ago when the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) scholarships were instituted, the ministry of science and technology had hoped that this would encourage an estimated 10,000 of the top 1% students across all boards in the country every year to take up science at the undergraduate level (not professional courses) and eventually move to research.

Since then, some 8,500 scholarships have gone abegging each year, causing serious concern among ministry officials, who are now thinking of commissioning a study to find out where the "missing" students went….

INSPIRE was designed to attract youth to study science and take up a career in research in the country instead of moving abroad or entering the burgeoning pool of professionals — of both management and science — in the country.

Explaining the calculations used to arrive at the 10,000 figure, a senior ministry official said: "We had done some research and found that the top 1% students of all boards comes to about 30,000-40,000 students. We had hoped that at least a third of these young people would enter science education in streams. But the response has been so poor that we are flummoxed. Either the programme has not received adequate publicity or there is an acute dearth of good students taking up science in the country."

It is the second possibility that the ministry is increasingly veering around to believe in given the overwhelming tendency of good students to take up commerce or economics and simply enter the management stream that is very highly paying and in which there is more "instant gratification" than a career in science where a person may take years to achieve anything substantial.

… The ministry, however, is not ready to compromise on the cut-off marks which is in the 90-91% range for a CBSE student. The second route of entry is for a student who may not have done too well in the boards but secured a high rank in the competitive examinations like JEE and AIEEE yet chooses to take up basic sciences.

As we wrote before efforts need to be made to encourage students at the high school level or even earlier to attract them to science. We had proposed science magnet schools for that. There were reports that the planning commission approved establishment of a few science magnet schools, but we have not heard much about it after that. India needs to establish 100 such science magnet schools across the country at the earliest.

Taking a test is not just a passive mechanism for assessing how much people know, according to new research. It actually helps people learn, and it works better than a number of other studying techniques.

… But “when we use our memories by retrieving things, we change our access” to that information, Dr. Bjork said. “What we recall becomes more recallable in the future. In a sense you are practicing what you are going to need to do later.”

It may also be that the struggle involved in recalling something helps reinforce it in our brains.

Maybe that is also why students who took retrieval practice tests were less confident about how they would perform a week later.

“The struggle helps you learn, but it makes you feel like you’re not learning,” said Nate Kornell, a psychologist at Williams College. “You feel like: ‘I don’t know it that well. This is hard and I’m having trouble coming up with this information.’ ”

By contrast, he said, when rereading texts and possibly even drawing diagrams, “you say: ‘Oh, this is easier. I read this already.’ ”

… Testing, of course, is a highly charged issue in education, drawing criticism that too much promotes rote learning, swallows valuable time for learning new things and causes excessive student anxiety.

“More testing isn’t necessarily better,” said Dr. Linn, who said her work with California school districts had found that asking students to explain what they did in a science experiment rather than having them simply conduct the hands-on experiment — a version of retrieval practice testing — was beneficial. “Some tests are just not learning opportunities. We need a different kind of testing than we currently have.”

Dr. Kornell said that “even though in the short term it may seem like a waste of time,” retrieval practice appears to “make things stick in a way that may not be used in the classroom.

“It’s going to last for the rest of their schooling, and potentially for the rest of their lives.”

What the above study means is that the coaching classes of India, especially the ones that coach for IIT have it somewhat right. The regular tests they do indeed make the students learn better.

However, many of the coaching classes take up so much time that students do not participate in other scientific activities such as doing experiments. As a result many students coming out of the coaching classes do not have much idea about doing hands-on experiments. Another criticism of coaching classes is that many students just learn the problem solving patterns without really learning the basics.

… The government also plans to set national vocational education framework by mid-2011, Sibal said, adding "this would help school students who are unable to complete higher education or the students who are not academically bright but have other skill sets."

…"We are planning to create a separate CBSE board for vocational education. The framework in this regard would be set up by mid next year. There will be a different curriculum for vocational education where students can choose the subjects depending on their interest from cooking to automobile engineering," Sibal said at a conference in Mumbai.

The proposed vocational training will begin at the school level and will be of 10 levels. Students from Class Eight onwards will be able to take up various vocational courses, like carpentry and para-medical, along with their regular courses till Class Twelve. This programme would also help mitigate the shortage of skilled personnel in the country, Sibal said.

He said it would help empower children through imparting skills and would thereby lead to an inclusive education, which is currently the "need of the hour."

"We have to strengthen education system in the country. We are all set to achieve the critical mass by 2020. For this we have to promote vocational education," Sibal said, adding that the universities should enable a seamless transition of these students from the senior secondary level to the undergraduate level.

Sibal said that the vocational education would help empower children through imparting skills and would thereby lead to an inclusive education, which is currently the need of the hour.

Citing data that about 220 million children go to school, however only 14 million reach college, Sibal said India was far behind the developed nations, where the percentage is pegged at round 80 as against the global average of 23%.

The proposal to set up new specialized Navodaya Vidyalayas to be termed as ‘Science Magnet’ schools, in collaboration with top R&D institutes, got the go-ahead from the Indian Institutes of Science Education & research (IISER) on Tuesday.

At a meeting with the Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal, IISER directors said that such schools would allow an integrated approach to science education from school to university level. IISER Thiruvananthapuram director has also committed to helping to provide an enabling environment to students enrolled in these Science Magnet schools. The Planning Commission is also learnt to have accorded, in principal, approval for the proposal.

These specialized Navodaya schools will only cater to students from classes IX to XII and will be set up over the next three years. The idea came up in light of the huge shortage of science graduates and post-graduates in the country and the diminishing interest in core science subjects.

Institutes like IISERs, Indian Institute of Science, National Physical Laboratory, Bhaba Atomic Research Centre, Council for Science & Industrial Research (CSIR) will be approached to help these schools which will be located in close proximity to these R&D institutes.

Initially I misread and thought that the IISERs agreed to have science magnet schools in their campus. The above report just says that they agree to the concept. Related reports say that they agree to accept students with IB (International Baccalaureate) degrees. That is important because the science magnet schools may need to get away from CBSE/ICSE/state-board and have IB so as to have a flexible curriculum that allows more courses in science and mathematics. The standard CBSE/ICSE/state-board does not have that flexibility.

I guess the reason an ok from the IISERs is important is because these schools are targeted to be feeder schools to IISERs.

The State capital will soon have two more Kendriya Vidalayas with approval by the Ministry of Human Resource and Kendriya Vidalaya Sangathan at Kalinga Nagar and Pokhariput.

The two schools will be known as Kalinga Nagar KV no -5 and Pokhariput no -6 from class I to V.

The Kalinga Nagar KV will temporarily function in the campus of Unit- 1X and Pohariput KV at the campus of Jagamara Nodal Primary School till the permanent buildings come up at their own sites.

The other Kendriya Vidyalayas in Bhubaneswar are:

KV Number 1 in Unit 9

KV Number 1 2nd Shift

KV Number 2 CRPF Campus

KV Number 3 Mancheswar

KV Number 4 Neeladri Vihar

Other KV’s in the greater Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda area are:

KV Charbatia

KV Cuttack (Bidanasi)

KV Khurda Road

With the above mentioned two new KVs in Bhubaneswar (at Kalinganagar and Pokhariput) and two new KVs in Cuttack (Khan Nagar and Mundali) the total number of KVs in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda will be 12. (This is not counting the one in Puri.)

The demand for a Central School (Kendriya Vidyalaya) here has been fulfilled and the school would start within a week, said District Collector of Jajpur Pramod Chandra Mohanty at a large gathering at the Jajpur Road Town Hall on the occasion of the Local Self Government Day and the Prativa Puja celebration of the Vyasanagar Municipality on Tuesday.

Senior journalist KC Samal placed the demand for a second Central School in the district at the industrial town of Jajpur Road. The first school was opened at Jajpur Town a few days back.

Chairperson of the Vyasanagar Municipality Bandita Parida, who presided over the meeting, assured the Collector to provide an eight-room building in the Jajpur Road Stadium premises to start the proposed Central School immediately.

The Indian Institute of Science, a leading institution of higher learning with a strong tradition of research for over a century, is opening its portals to undergraduate students by launching a four-year Bachelor of Science (BS) Programme. The programme is designed as a balanced blend of core science and interdisciplinary topics, to serve as a launching pad for research and doctoral studies in cutting-edge areas in science and technology. The graduates will also be ready for attractive career opportunities in academia and industry.

Earlier we reported on the shortage of Math Ph.D’s in India. Slowly the Bhubaneswar area is emerging as a center for Mathematics starting from mentoring at the high school level (at IMA) to pursuing Ph.D at NISER, IIT, Utkal and Ravenshaw. There is also a good chance that one of the proposed 10 science magnet high schools will be established in this area. (The top Math center in India is Chennai which has IIT Madras, Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Chennai Mathematical Institute.) Below we list Math faculty (mostly with Ph.Ds) in institutes and universities in the Bhubaneswar area.

BHARTI FOUNDATION, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises was established in 2000 with a vision "To help underprivileged children and young people of our country realize their potential". BHARTI FOUNDATION, is an organization established under the Laws of India with charitable status pursuant to a "Deed of Trust".

One of their flagship program is the Satya Bharti School program. Following is from their home page.

The Satya Bharti School Program is the flagship program of Bharti Foundation. With a goal to establish 500 Primary and 50 Senior Secondary Schools, this program, aims to create a replicable, scalable and holistic model of quality education in rural India

Harpreet is one of the 30,000 students who are now studying in Mittal’s free English-medium schools in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. This is likely to increase to 50,000 in two years. The plan is to eventually build 500 primary schools and 50 secondary schools which will enroll 100,000 students by 2013.

Not only is this one of the largest such direct interventions by a business house, but Mittal also claims this is one of the largest affirmative action initiatives in the country.

“More than 21,000 of the 30,000 or 70% of the students in these schools are from SC/ST and OBC categories. The ratio is the same among the 1,100 teachers now on the foundation’s rolls,” says Mittal. “We have not gone looking for SC/ST students, but we have gone into catchments that are very poor. And, by this very design, we have got them,” Mr Mittal adds. Moreover, 47% of the students are girls.

… Most of them have been set up as an alternative to poorly-run government schools. There is a world of difference between the two. Kirthi Sharma, a head teacher of one of the foundation’s schools near Ludhiana, points out that simple things like clean drinking water, working infrastructure, clean toilets were some of the things that the 191 students in the school cherished. A replacement teacher is also sent from a nearby school or from the foundation if a teacher goes on leave, ensuring that all classes are always staffed.

Each of these schools is built according to a blueprint drawn up by Delhi-based architect Navneeth Malhotra. The Foundation invited several architects to make a pitch for the project and were given a Rs 20 lakh cost cap for a school building. Finally, Sunil and brother Rakesh Mittal handpicked Malhotra.

Each school is located in half an acre of land and has five classrooms (for standard 1-5) and a staff room. Other facilities include toilets, a vegetable garden and a playground. Every school also has an internet connection. “We send weekly updates on attendance, books, and uniforms to Delhi on email. We also download teaching manuals, instructions and sometimes even additions to the menu amongst other things,” says Anamika Kappor, head teacher in a school in Ludhiana district Punjab. The schools run on two shifts and have between 5-7 teachers whose salaries start at about Rs 4,500. The head teacher is paid about Rs 7,000. On an average, the foundation spends about Rs 12 lakh per annum to run each school.

The Bharti group’s managerial skills are quite evident in the way these schools are run. Like every group company, the Bharti Foundation has a CEO in Vijay Chadda. He quit the army in 1992, held a string of high-profile corporate jobs, including that of CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel and Kuoni Travel, before he took a pay cut to join the foundation in 2008.

… He has a team of 1600 employees; 1100 are teachers, while the rest are involved in logistics, training, curriculum design, and other support roles. Three state-heads oversee the functioning of about 90 schools each, and report to the headquarters in Delhi.

The centralised training wing and a team of 10 trainers prepare the curriculum and coach the teachers. Training is a 365-days-a-year operation. “There are subject specific modules happening all the time — for instance, the maths or science teachers of all schools in that district will be called to a centralised location and taught new tools and skill sets,” explains Mr Chadda.

… Though it has 236 primary schools, the Bharti Foundation is planning to set up only 25 secondary schools, that too over the next 3 years. Mittal’s plan is to have each of these 25 secondary schools absorb all the students passing out from 10 primary schools in the vicinity. He chose this hub-and-spoke model for various reasons.

Foundation executives say it is impossible to upgrade all primary schools to secondary schools. “The latter would require labs for subjects like Physics and Chemistry and teachers for such specialised areas,” Mr Chadda said. Funding the infrastructure and finding the teachers for 236 such secondary schools would be a challenge. That’s why it settled for one secondary school as a hub for students coming out of 10 primary schools.

… The Rajasthan government is undertaking joint surveys with the foundation to convert many of the existing schools to senior secondary schools. The World Bank has also shown interest, Mr Chadda added. There are other problems too like 20% attrition amongst teachers. The foundation pays only a third of the salaries when compared to a government school. “Many teachers use this as a platform to get experience before moving on,” he says. “We pay higher than other private schools in the locality, but being a charitable organisation, we cannot match government salaries,” he adds. He believes attrition will come down once the secondary schools become operational. “Primary school teachers can be promoted — this will be an incentive,” he said.

… That was when Mr Mittal decided to do it himself. He started the Bharti Foundation in 2000 with a corpus of Rs 200 crore. The dream for 500 schools that would educate 100,000 poor children was taking shape in his mind.

… Soon, the Rajasthan government offered 49 schools in the Neemrana and Ajmer blocks for adoption. It moved existing teachers to other schools and gave the foundation a clean slate. The foundation then invested Rs 5 lakh to renovate each school and hired new teachers. It was a brave move considering the political ramifications of handing over state-owned and run schools to corporates. But, like his businesses, Mittal wanted to scale up fast here too.

The Bharti Scholarship and Mentorship Program was instituted in the year 2006-07 to enable academically bright youth from financially weak families to complete their higher education. Currently the program supports 232 scholars across the country and covers courses in management, engineering and agriculture.

… Mentorship is an integral component of the Bharti Scholarship Program. Involving senior executives from the Bharti Group of Companies, the Mentorship Program looks at providing each scholar with a mentor who can help make the right career choices, provide them with relevant exposure and guide them in decisions which will shape their future. Today, 105 senior executives from Bharti Group of Companies are involved in the mentoring program.

This is based on the cut-off data in http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/5020 and is only about the 169 junior colleges for which there is e-counseling. Note that there are now more than 100 private plus 2 science colleges across Odisha (with more than 50 in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack area alone) and they are not part of this list. An example is the Kalinga Bharati College that did very well in Plus 2 exams this year. In 2007 we had made a list of the new breed of private +2 science colleges at http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/283. By now the number of such colleges has more than doubled.

District

College

Science

Cutoff %

Khurda

Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar (Junior) College, Bhubaneswar

91.2

Cuttack

Ravenshaw (Junior) College, Cuttack

89.67

Khurda

College (Junior) of Basic Science & Humanities, Bhubaneswar

87.33

Cuttack

Jatiya Kabi Bira Kishore (Junior) Government College, Cuttack

85.5

Balasore

Fakir Mohan (Junior) College, Balasore

85

Ganjam

Khallikote (Junior) College, Berhampur

84.33

Khurda

Rama Devi Women’s (Junior) College, Bhubaneswar

84

Cuttack

Shailabala Women’s (Junior) College, Cuttack

83

Khurda

Rajdhani (Junior) College, Bhubaneswar

82.83

Dhenkanal

Dhenkanal (Junior) College, Dhenkanal

82.17

Ganjam

Sashi Bhusan Rath Government Women’s (Junior) College, Berhampur

81.72

Mayurbhanj

Maharaja Purna Chandra (Junior) College, Baripada

80

Balasore

Upendra Nath (Junior) College, Soro

79.83

Bhadrak

Bhadrak (Junior) College, Bhadrak

79.8

Puri

Samanta Chandra Sekhar (Junior) College, Puri

79.67

Ganjam

Binayak Acharya (Junior) College, Berhampur

79

Sundargarh

Government (Junior) College, Rourkela

79

Nayagarh

Nayagarh (Junior) College, Nayagarh

78.67

Khurda

Maharishi (Junior) College of Natural Law, Bhubaneswar

78.5

Jajpur

Narasingh Choudhury (Junior) College, Jajpur

78.33

Jagatsinghpur

Swami Vivekananda Memorial (Junior) College, Jagatsinghpur

78

Angul

Government (Junior) College, Angul

77.83

Cuttack

Salepur (Junior) College, Salepur

77.83

Sambalpur

Gangadhar Meher (Junior) College, Sambalpur

77.67

Balasore

Kuntala Kumari Sabat Women’s (Junior) College, Balasore

76.17

Ganjam

Science (Junior) College, Hinjilicut

75.5

Keonjhar

Dharanidhar (Junior) College, Keonjhar

75

Kendrapara

Kendrapara (Junior) College, Kendrapara

74.17

Khurda

Kamala Nehru Women’s (Junior) College, Bhubaneswar

74

Dhenkanal

Government Women’s (Junior) College, Dhenkanal

73.83

Puri

Nimapada (Junior) College, Nimapada

73.17

Baragarh

Dadhi Baman (Junior) College, Bhatli

73

Ganjam

Government (Junior) College, Chhatrapur

72.67

Khurda

Prananath (Junior) College, Khurda

71.83

Jajpur

Vyasa Nagar (Junior) College, Jajpur Road

71.33

Ganjam

Rama Chandra Mardaraj Science (Junior) College, Khallikote

69.33

Jagatsinghpur

Adikabi Sarala Das (Junior) College, Tirtol

68.5

Bolangir

Rajendra (Junior) College, Bolangir

68

Sambalpur

Government Women’s (Junior) College, Sambalpur

68

Balasore

Gopalpur (Junior) College, Gopalpur, Balasore

67.5

Khurda

Kshetrabasi Dayananda Anglovedic (Junior) College, Nirakarpur

66.67

Mayurbhanj

Rairangpur (Junior)College, Rairangpur

66.67

Kendrapara

Marshaghai (Junior) College, Marshaghai

66.5

Cuttack

Gopabandhu Science (Junior) College, Athagarh

66.33

Jajpur

Baba Bhairabananda (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Chandikhol

66.17

Kendrapara

Pattamundai (Junior) College, Pattamundai

66

Gajapati

Sri Krushna Chandra Gajapati (Junior) College, Paralakhemundi

65.67

Koraput

Vikram Deb (Junior) College, Jeypore

65.67

Angul

Janata (Junior) College, Boinda

64.67

Khurda

Sri Satya Sai (Junior) College for Women, Pokhriput

64.5

Ganjam

Khemundi (Junior) College, Digapahandi

64.33

Sundargarh

Ispat (Junior) College, Rourkela

64

Bhadrak

Atal Bihari (Junior) College, Basudevpur

63

Baragarh

Attabira (Junior) College, Attabira

61.83

Ganjam

Aska Science (Junior) College, Aska

61.33

Jajpur

Sadhu Goureswar (Junior) College, Kanikapada

61.17

Keonjhar

Anandapur (Junior) College, Anandapur

60.83

Keonjhar

Government Women’s (Junior) College, Keonjhar

60.8

Baragarh

Panchayat (Junior) College, Bargarh

60.5

Kandhamal

Government (Junior) College, Phulbani

60.5

Sundargarh

Sushilabati Government (Junior) Women’s College, Rourkela

60.5

Rayagada

Gunupur (Junior) College, Gunupur

59.67

Balasore

Rural Institute of Higher Studies, Bhogarai

59.5

Puri

Gop (Junior) College, Gop

59.17

Angul

Athamallik (Junior) College, Athmallik

59

Dhenkanal

Hindol (Junior) College, Khajuriakota

59

Angul

Talcher (Junior) College, Talcher

57.5

Sambalpur

Kuchinda (Junior) College, Kuchinda

57.17

Koraput

D.A.V. (Junior) College, Landiguda, Koraput

57

Baragarh

Larambha (Junior) College, Larambha

56.33

Mayurbhanj

Laxmi Kanta (Junior) College, Bangriposi

56.33

Ganjam

Tara Tarini (Junior) College, Purusottampur

56.17

Nawarangpur

Pendrani (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Umerkote

56.17

Malkangiri

Balimela (Junior) College of Technology, Niladrinagar

55.17

Sundargarh

Rourkela (Junior) College, Rourkela

54.17

Balasore

Nilagiri (Junior) College, Nilagiri

53

Puri

Alarnath Dhandamulak (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Brahmagiri

50.67

Cuttack

Mohan Subudhi (Junior) College, Baramba

50.17

Rayagada

Rayagada (Junior) College, Rayagada

49.67

Cuttack

Narasinghpur (Junior) College, Narasinghpur

49.4

Kendrapara

Sailendra Narayan (Junior) College, Rajkanika

49

Mayurbhanj

Seemanta (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Jharpokharia

49

Mayurbhanj

Karanjia (Junior) College, Karanjia

48.83

Sundergarh

Bonaigarh (Junior) College, Bonaigarh

47.17

Mayurbhanj

Udala (Junior) College, Udala

45.83

Sambalpur

Burla N.A.C. (Junior) College, Burla

45.83

Sonepur

Sonepur (Junior) College, Sonepur

45.67

Khurda

Sishu Ananta (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Balipatna

45.6

Sambalpur

Trust Fund (Junior) College, Bamra

45.5

Koraput

Semiliguda (Junior) College, Seimiliguda

45.33

Koraput

Kotpad (Junior) College, Kotpad

45

Keonjhar

Chandra Sekhar (Junior) College, Champua

44.83

Keonjhar

Braja Bandhu (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Harichandanpur

44.17

Cuttack

Banki (Junior) College, Banki

42.17

Nayagarh

Ranapur (Junior) College, Ranpur

42

Sambalpur

Netaji Subash Chandra Bose (Junior) College, Sambalpur

42

Bhadrak

Biranchi Narayan Madhab Arjun (Junior) College, Paliabindha

41.83

Bhadrak

Dhamnagar (Junior) College, Dhamnagar

41.83

Khurda

Godavarish (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Banapur

41.5

Sundargarh

Government (Junior) Science College, Kutra, Sundergarh

41.5

Puri

Mangala (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Kakatpur

41

Boudh

Boudh Panchayat (Junior) College, Boudh

40.67

Nayagarh

Pathani Samanta (Junior) College, Khandapara

40.67

Nuapada

Sinapali (Junior) College, Sinapali

39.83

Mayurbhanj

Jashipur (Junior) College, Jashipur

39.67

Jharsuguda

Women’s (Junior) College, Jharsuguda

39.33

Kalahandi

Kesinga (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Kesinga

38.67

Puri

Utkalmani Gopabandhu Smruti (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Sakhigopal

38.67

Bhadrak

Chandbali (Junior) College, Chandbali

38.33

Keonjhar

Tarini Thakurani (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Ghatagaon

38.33

Nayagarh

Raghunath Samabaya (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Odagaon

38.17

Dhenkanal

Kamakshyanagar (Junior) College, Kamakshyanagar

38

Ganjam

Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja (Junior) College, Bhanjanagar

38

Bolangir

D.A.V. (Junior) College, Titilagarh

37.83

Baragarh

Anchal (Junior) College, Padampur

37.67

Bhadrak

Agarpra (Junior) College, Agarpara

37.67

Gajapati

Indira Memorial (Junior) College, Chandiput

37.5

Khurda

Begunia (Junior) College, Begunia

37.33

Mayurbhanj

Government (Junior) Science College, Tiringi, Mayurbhanj

37.33

Sundargarh

Government (Junior) College, Sundargarh

37.33

Deograh

Deogarh (Junior) College, Deogarh

37.17

Sundargarh

Shrama Sakti (Junior) College, Biramitrapur

36.83

Baragarh

Women’s (Junior) College, Bargarh

36.33

Kalahandi

Government (Junior) College, Bhawanipatna

36.33

Puri

Pipili (Junior) College, Pipili

36.17

Sundargarh

Government Women’s (Junior) College, Sundargarh

36

Khurda

Jatani (Junior) College, Jatani

35.67

Kandhamal

Adibasi (Junior) College, Balliguda

35.33

Mayurbhanj

Upendra Nath (Junior) College, Nalagaja

35.17

Nuapada

Government (Junior) Science College, Nuapada

35.17

Bolangir

Jawaharlal (Junior) College, Patnagarh

34.83

Jharsuguda

Brajarajnagar (Junior) College, Brajarajnagar

34.83

Sonepur

Shreeram (Junior) College, S. Rampur

34.33

Bolangir

Panchayat Samiti (Junior) College, Belpara

33.83

Jagatsinghpur

Paradeep (Junior) College, Paradeep

33.38

Jagatsinghpur

Sarala (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Rahama

33.33

Kandhamal

Jeevan Jyoti (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Raikia

33.33

Balasore

Dinakrushna (Junior) College, Jaleswar

33.17

Nuapada

National (Junior) College, Nuapada

33.17

Angul

Malyagiri (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, Pallahara

33

Baragarh

Sohela (Junior) College, Sohela

33

Bolangir

Kantabanji Vocational (Junior) College, Kantabanji

33

Gajapati

Government (Junior) Science College, Jirnaga, Gajapti

33

Jajpur

Sukinda (Junior) College, Sukinda

33

Jharsuguda

Laxmi Narayan (Junior) College, Jharsuguda

33

Kalahandi

Panchayat (Junior) College, Dharamgarh

33

Kandhamal

Kalinga (Junior) Mahavidyalaya, G. Udayagiri

33

Malkangiri

Government (Junior) Science College, Malkanagiri

33

Mayurbhanj

Barasahi Panchayat Samiti (Junior) College, Barasahi

33

Nawarangpur

Nabarangpur (Junior) College, Nawarangpur

33

Nuapada

Khariar (Junior) College, Khariar

33

Rayagada

Women’s (Junior) College, Rayagada

33

Sambalpur

Bhim Bhoi (Junior) College, Rairakhol

33

Sonepur

Birmaharajpur (Junior) College, Birmaharajpur

33

Sundargarh

Dalmia (Junior) College, Jharbeda

33

Sundargarh

Vesaja Patel (Junior) College, Duduka

33

The above data is consistent with anecodotal stories that I heard regarding most students from areas like Bhawanipatna going off to other places (including Raipur and Visakhapatnam) to pursue their +2 science and get coaching.

Genesis of INSPIRE: Global competitiveness in the changing global knowledge economy calls for expansion and right-sizing of the Research and Development base of the country. Need for
special interventions for attracting youth to study of natural sciences and careers with research is recognized. Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) is a Programme launched by the Government of India to strengthen the National Science and Technology base. It is being implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

About INSPIRE: Programme includes three components namely Scheme for Early Attraction of
Talents for Science (SEATS), Scholarships for Higher Education (SHE) and Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC). The Scheme SHE is focused on attraction of talent to study of natural/basic sciences at the bachelor and master’s level education. SHE is currently limited to support for educational programmes at B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc. and integrated master’s level course in sciences leading to MSc in any branch of natural and basic sciences namely mathematics, statistics, physics, chemistry, earth sciences and life sciences.

Call for Applications: Applications are invited from eligible candidates for `Scholarship for
Higher Education (SHE)’ component of INSPIRE. Total of 10,000 scholarships are available
annually under SHE starting April 2008. The scholarships are limited only to the candidates
studying courses in natural/basic sciences (B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons), integrated M.Sc.) in any one of the recognized institutions in India. Eligibility criterion for the scholarships are a) performance in
board examinations within the cutoff threshold (of top 1%) for each state or central board
examination at the class X and class XII level and/or b) performance in any of the specified
competitive examinations within stipulated cut off ranks. The eligible applicant must be already
enrolled into degree level education in natural/basic sciences in any of the recognized institutions
in India.

Criteria for Eligibility for SHE:

a) Based on Performance in Board Examinations: The candidates should have obtained
aggregate marks in the top 1% in the board examination at both class X and XII levels. For
example, the candidates applying for INSPIRE Scholarship 2008 should have secured marks
within the top 1% in class X in the year 2006 and class XII in 2008 in the respective board
examinations and should have joined a degree course leading to B.Sc. or B.Sc. (Hons) or
integrated M.Sc. in natural/basic sciences in any institution in India. Cut-off marks for various
board examinations conducted in the years 2006 and 2007 for class X and corresponding year
of 2008 and 2009 for class XII are listed in Table 1. The cut-off marks of various Board
Examinations conducted in the years 2008 for Class X and 2010 for Class XII are being compiled and shall be up-loaded in Website in due course. Candidate securing top 1% marks only in class XII board examination can also submit the application form.

b) Based on Performance in Competitive Examinations (specified in Table 2).: Performance
within the top 10,000 ranks in Joint Entrance Examination of IIT, AIEEE (Engineering) and CBSE medical and joining degree level courses in natural/basic sciences in any recognized Indian
institution. The candidate may apply with a valid document of these examinations. The scheme in its current format does not include courses in engineering, medicine, technology and other
professional courses.

c) Based on Performance in Competitive Examinations (specified in Table 3): Clearance of
competitive examinations conducted by institutions listed in Table 3 and all candidates securing
admissions and joining integrated M.Sc/ MS courses in natural/basic sciences conduced by Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), in Indian Institutes of Technology, Department of Atomic Energy – Centre for Basic Science (DAE-CBS) and University from the academic years 2008-09, 2009-10 ad 2010-11 are eligible. Institutional coverage is being done for this category. Students in this category need not to apply.

Value and Type of Support: Eligible candidates will receive annually scholarship @ total value
Rs.80,000 per candidate. The cash value payable to the SHE scholarship holder is Rs.60,000 per annum. All the SHE scholars are undertake summer time attachment to an active researcher in recognized research centers in the country. A summer time attachment fee of Rs.20,000 will be paid to the mentoring institution for undertaking summer time project.

Duration of the Support: Selected candidates will be supported for a maximum period of five
years starting 1st year course in B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons) and integrated course leading to M.S. or M.Sc. or the completion of the course, which ever is earlier. Continuation of the scholarship for once selected candidates is based on satisfactory performance of the examinations conducted and certified by the institution imparting education.

Format for Application: All interested and eligible candidates (as per Table 1 for Board
examination based eligibility or as per Table 2 or Table 3 for competitive examination based
eligibility) must apply in the prescribed format written preferable in English & Hindi only along
with attested copy of i) Mark sheets of Class X and Class XII and ii) Endorsement Certificate from Principal of the College/ Director or Registrar of the Institute or University where the applicant is presently enrolled. Candidate may please download this Advertisement and Application Format which is available at the website: www. inspire-dst.gov.in and submit the duly filled-in application with all necessary documents. Applications should be sent by Ordinary Post only within one month from the date of this advertisement in Newspaper and shall be addressed to the Director, National Institute of Science, Technology & Development Studies (NISTADS), Dr K S Krishnan Marg , New Delhi – 110012. The envelope should mention on top “Application for INSPIRE Scholarship – 2008, 2009 and 2010” program. For online submission of application, kindly also visit the Website: www.inspire-dst.gov.in. The online applicants should also submit a hardcopy of the applications with all attested documents.

… two have already started functioning from the Millennium City in Cuttack.

The admission process in the two schools will commence from the current academic session, the notification for which has already been published by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).

The two schools will be operating from Munduli and Nuapatana.

The state government has allotted land for the construction of the two campuses, the work for which has already started.

Before the construction work is completed, the two schools will be operating from the CRPF campus, and from the Government Press.

“Students starting from standard I to V will be admitted now and soon the schools will be upgraded to standard X. Currently, both the schools will have 45 students each,”…

… the remaining nine schools at Kutra in Sundargarh, Bhanjanagar, Digapahandi and Aska in Ganjam, Murgabadi in Mayurbhanj, and one each at Sonepur, Deogarh, Jajpur and Nuapada will be set up soon.

Based on our bookkeeping in http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4222 after the above schools are established the only two districts in Odisha that will lack a Central School will be: Kendrapada and Nayagarh.

Update: One day after the news below Samaja also has the following news on 11 new schools.

While some newsreports have been reporting 11 more central schools are coming up (see http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/4818) the following report in Samaja mentions 7 more and the two lists vary. The locations mentioned in Samaja are: Bhubaneswar (2), Cuttack, Nayagarh and Rairangpur. The locations mentioned in Orissadiary are Kutra in Sundargarh district, in Cuttack city, in Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district, in Mayurbhanj town, in Sonepur, in Deogarh, in Jajpur, in Digapahandi of Ganjam District, in Aska of Ganjam district, in Nuapada, in CISF in Cuttack district.